The developer of OrbusVR stated on Twitter that they are “definitely looking into Oculus Quest support“. OrbusVR is the first true VR MMO, currently available on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Orbus was launched by a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2017. It received over $30,000 on a goal of just $10,000. Our own MMO veteran David Jagneaux took a deep dive into the game last February and found it really does deliver on its promise. It feels like a classic MMO brought into VR, complete with all the core mechanics you’d expect.
When asked about a Quest port back in September, the developer simply replied “We don’t have a definite answer right now”. However, they did mention that they “will have more info on this in the coming months.” The change to “definitely looking into” could indicate the developer is analyzing the cost of a port.
The game is receiving a huge “overhaul” in April. Called OrbusVR: Reborn, the update will add new visuals, new classes, new mechanics, and tons of new features. The strategy seems similar to the original ‘expansion packs’ for World of Warcraft.
If Orbus does come to Oculus Quest, it has the potential to massively expand the game’s userbase. Given the engaging nature of MMOs, it could even see users limited by the headset’s battery life rather than desire to play.
However it must be stressed that this is far from confirmation. It’s entirely possible that the developers don’t have the time of resources to deliver a port. The game is demanding on even high end PCs. But if they can pull it off, Orbus could one day be a top title in Quest‘s library.
(Update: 10/29/19): For this update to our list of the best VR RPGs we’ve removed Fallout 4 VR and The Witching Tower in favor of adding Asgard’s Wrath and No Man’s Sky VR.
(Update: 8/9/19): For this update we’ve bumped off Chronos, VR Dungeon Knight, and Vengeful Rites in favor of adding Journey of the Gods, The Wizards: Enhanced Edition, and Shadow Legend.
(Originally published 2/8/19): For a lot of people, virtual reality is all about escapism. Being able to put on the headset and immediately be transported to a totally new world. Perhaps in your dreams that world is full of magic, wondrous creatures, and breathtaking locations. If that’s the case for you — if that’s what you imagine the best that VR has to offer being like — then you’ve come to the right place. This is our list of the top 10 very best VR RPGs that you can play on Rift, Vive, PSVR, Oculus Quest, and Windows MR right now.
We’re still in the early days of consumer-focused VR so that means we haven’t quite reached the point where developers can spend years crafting the ultimate experience from top to bottom. Many of the games on this list are either ports of non-VR games or made by small teams with a passion for VR. Either way, these are our picks for the best.
And since we’re specifically collecting a list of RPGs (that means role-playing games) we’re leaving off stuff that is primarily a shooter, adventure game, or even just combat-focused action games like Blade & Sorcery if it doesn’t feature a heavy emphasis on RPG elements. We’re also leaving off mobile titles because there just aren’t many great VR RPGs on mobile (other than The Well, you should definitely play that on Go and Gear VR.)
Asgard’s Wrath is not only a step forward for Sanzaru Games as a development studio, but also a fundamental advancement for VR games in general. It’s a captivating experience full of enchanting adventure from start to finish. When people buy a headset with the idea of visiting strange, beautiful, and rich new worlds full of exciting things they can only do in VR, this is the type of game they’re imagining.
There are some small gripes here and there and it’s not perfect by any means, but it’s certainly the best VR game yet that I’ve played. After over 25 hours of questing through the realms of Norse mythology, all I can think about is the laundry list of things I’ve still yet to discover. Asgard’s Wrath is, from top to bottom, an extraordinary accomplishment.
When Skyrim VR was announced at E3, it was like a dream come true for me. The Elder Scrolls is one of my all-time favorite game franchises and the thought of being able to walk the streets of Whiterun and slay dragons in VR was just an incredible proposition. And luckily, it lives up to the hype.
The VR implementation could have used a bit more work since the flat menus and awkward NPC interaction leaves a bit to be desired, but the scale and amount of content is unmatched in VR. This is truly one of the best RPGs ever made, now in VR. If you’re on PC then you can play with mods too!
Journey of the Gods is a simple, yet charming game. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel in terms of action adventure games in VR go and it certainly won’t blow your mind with its visuals, but what we’ve got here is a well-made and tightly designed adventure with hours of content to explore. I’d love to see this turned into a franchise so we could experience a bigger, better, and bolder sequel. As it stands, Journey of the Gods is a delightful and fun game worth adventuring with.
It’s available on both Quest and Rift, providing an adventurous scratch for your RPG itch.
Romping through dungeons with friends is a ton of fun, especially when it’s VR and you’ve got defined class roles. Similar to VR Dungeon Knight, also on this list, Karnage Chronicles is heavily focused on co-op fun. There’s a surprising amount to this one with some solid progression systems and really inventive environment designs keeping you coming back.
It’s still in active development, but you can already experience a lot of great content even while it’s still in Early Access.
From inXile Entertainment, the actual creators of The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland comes The Mage’s Tale, an excellent single-player RPG that pits you against dangerous goblins, deadly traps, and a surprisingly lengthy campaign featuring 10+ hours of content.
This one is out on Rift, Vive, and PSVR and it packs a lot of good RPG fun with some of the best production values in the genre. It’s not open world and is instead extremely linear, but the pacing is great with a fun adventure
While not classified as an RPG directly in the most traditional sense, it’s got most of the core hallmarks in place and lets you immerse yourself in one of the largest and most detailed virtual universes ever crafted. For all intents and purposes, this is a sci-fi RPG epic in our books.
No Man’s Sky is very much more than the sum of its parts. When looked at under a microscope individually, each element can show significant blemishes with plenty of room to be more polished, more dynamic, and more expansive, but to focus too intently on the moving parts and not take it in as a collection of its immersive ambitions would be missing the point. Performance issues and some non-game breaking bugs aside, to appreciate what makes No Man’s Sky VR so special is to appreciate the underlying appeal of VR as a medium. They’re both about exploring a vast, endless sea of fantastical destinations. They’re both about embodiment and unrivaled immersion. And above all else they’re both about becoming who you want to be by exploring the far corners of seemingly limitless potential.
This one holds the crown of being the first-ever actually released and supported VR MMOs. Obviously it can’t hold a candle to Sword Art Online or Ready Player One just yet, but it has laid a great foundation for what’s to come.
Now that is massive overhaul is out and its released on Quest, OrbusVR is bigger and better than ever. Plus you can play for free all the way up to level 10!
Shadow Legend (Read Our Review)
Shadow Legend probably isn’t going to blow any minds or make believers out of anyone that has decided VR isn’t for them, but it does deliver on its promise of offering a feature-filled single player VR RPG that tells a complete story with action and intrigue. Production values and clunkiness aside, the mere fact that Shadow Legend feels like an actual game probably says more about the state of the VR market than it does the quality of the adventure itself. At the end of the day when I lay down my Knight’s Templar sword and finish slaying demons, all I could think is how badly I wish there was more.
Shadow Legend is out on PC VR headsets and is coming to PSVR sometime this year.
This is really the original roomscale VR RPG. It came out at the same time in Early Access back when the HTC Vive first launched almost three years ago and is still one of the best. It’s now out of Early Access and the massive expansion more than doubles the game’s size and length.
Vanishing Realms is the most traditional D&D-inspired game on this list and is all about exploring dungeons, fighting enemies, and bypassing some simple puzzles and traps. It’s a world rife with potential and is still a blast to play to this day.
On the gamut of magic-based first-person action games, The Wizards: Enhanced Editions is definitely one of the better ones. Its spell-casting system is interactive without being too cumbersome and the campaign mode packs a solid amount of content. Plenty of collectibles, a replayable Arena mode, and lots of mission augmentations add up to this being a really fun journey. But some of the repetition, relatively short length, and recycled wave-shooter-style mission structures left us wanting a bit more creativity. I absolutely enjoyed my time with The Wizards, but with a few additions it could have been the definitive VR spell-casting game.
It’s out on PSVR, PC VR, and even Oculus Quest now too.
Last year OrbusVR: Reborn was revealed as a “ground-up re-imagining” of the VR MMORPG, due out this year, that will aim to totally relaunch the MMO. This week we’ve learned OrbusVR: Reborn is set to officially go live in April of 2019. With new visuals, new classes, new mechanics, and tons of new features it may as well be a sequel or complete overhaul rather than just a mere expansion.
OrbusVR is, for all intents and purposes, the first VR MMO. Obviously some experiences like AltspaceVR may predate it and there are likely going to be plenty of MMOs in VR created in the coming years, but OrbusVR does hold the crown as the first one to actually release into the market after a successful Kickstarter campaign. It’s a buy-to-play MMO, meaning once you buy it you don’t have to pay a subscription fee or anything like you do in World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV.
Now, calling this game an MMO does come with some caveats. Obviously it’s a small team which means the production values aren’t going to be on the same level as the biggest games in the world can afford. It’s got a sleek art style that works well, but it’s not gonna blow any minds. Additionally, servers only hold a few dozen people at most at any given time so the “Massively” part of the MMO acronym is being stretched a little bit here.
That being said, having played OrbusVR a bit and having been around to experience the early days of PC MMOs with Ultima Online, EverQuest, and others, it certainly has that same feeling of still trying to figure itself out and to me, that’s a magical spot to be in.
To stay updated on OrbusVR, new features, and more check out the official website here and let us know what you think of the game if you’ve played it down in the comments below!
Orbus Online, the studio behind OrbusVR, says the game’s long-awaited ‘Reborn’ expansion is now set to launch sometime in April.
OrbusVR is a made-for-VR MMORPG that launched into Early Access on Steam (Vive, Rift) and the Oculus Store (Rift) in December 2017. As a VR-native, it’s essentially delivering VR headset owners a way to live out some of the classic MMORPG tropes such as multiplayer dungeon raids, world bosses, several combat classes, and missions across a large, open-world.
The game’s Reborn expansion, which was first teased in August with a Q1 2019 release target, takes place in the near future—20 years after the defeat of the Order, changing much in the land of Patraeyl.
Image courtesy Orbus Online
Reborn is said to feature a host of new content including new classes, zones, activities, enemies, and improvements to overall functionality and look (more details below).
The studio says in a developer update that two more Reborn closed betas will arrive beforehand to further test and provide opportunity for user feedback.
Closed betas, which will be available to current owners of OrbusVR, are slated to take place February 22nd – 25th and March 25th – April 8th. To boot, expansion will be free to all existing owners of the base game, which costs $40.
All existing characters, equipment, and progression will be carried over from the current version of OrbusVR into Reborn when it launches.
The studio says a more definite launch window will arrive at the beginning of April.
OrbusVR: Reborn is the first expansion to OrbusVR, a VRMMORGP in Early Access from indie studio Orbus Online. Now in its third open beta weekend, owners of the base game OrbusVR can hop into Reborn starting today, which comes with plenty of new stuff to see and explore.
Orbus Online calls the expansion pack a “ground-up re-imagining of the original game,” which includes new hand-painted visuals, enemies, dungeons, raids, classes, and more.
Image courtesy Orbus Online
The OrbusVR: Reborn beta has already begun, starting today, January 11th at 12 PM CST. It’s not certain when the beta weekend will end, although it’s safe to say come Monday users will be greeted with a ‘server offline’ message.
Reborn is set 20 years after the defeat of the Order, so much has changed in the land of Patraeyl. Users again find themselves at the central hub ‘Highsteppe’, where they venture out from behind the the safe walls of the city into a land of new possibilities. “It’s a time of chaos…and opportunity,” the studio says.
Image courtesy Orbus Online
The full version is slated to arrive sometime in Q1 2019 for free to existing OrbusVR owners. Users that purchase the base game before Reborn launches are said to receive it for free.
OrbusVR is a VR-only game available through Steam (Vive, Rift) and the Oculus Store (Rift).
Here’s a list of all new content on show in the third beta weekend:
New Avatar Creator – We’ve re-worked our avatars to give you much more control over the look of your character. Change the shape of your body and face, and choose from a variety of hair, nose, and eye styles to make a truly unique avatar that represents you!
New Classes – The Bard is a support class focused around conducting your own personal mini-orchestra of musical orbs. By keeping them in-sync and choosing the right instrument at the right time, you can support your party members, heal your allies, weaken your enemies, and even deal a little damage of your own! The Shaman is a high-powered offensive class with the ability to affect the entire battlefield. Throwing down totems, the Shaman can spread effects to slow down enemies, or throw down a spell-slinging totem and grab some arcane energy to hurl for massive damage. Disciplines Three and Four will be revealed soon!
New Enemies – Face new, challenging foes from a variety of core races, including creatures of chaos and corrupted nature. Enemy AI has been vastly improved, and enemies will now dodge incoming projectiles, retreat and seek help, and choose between rushing the player or hanging back at a distance depending on the situation.
New Activities – With Highsteppe as your central hub, take on a variety of new activites in-game, including airship adventures with a party, dragon pet racing, and public events throughout the world. All non-endgame areas will also be level-scaled, so veteran and new players can easily quest together. And of course, we’ll have new dungeons, raids, gear, and more!
Redesigned World PvP and Battlegrounds – We’ve listened to your feedback on the player versus player content in the game, and in this re-imagined realm, World PvP is an opt-in activity, along with additional rewards for those who choose to participate. We’ll also be rolling out our first Capture the Flag Battleground game mode for those who want some competitive action, along with Honor ranks and rewards.
Revamped Gathering and New Crafting – Gathering resources throughout the world will now be more naturally integrated, with items such as ore found in caves (yes, there are now caves!). We’ll also be introducing a new Tinkerer crafting discipline.
Improved Performance and Stability – By making each asset ourselves, we’ve been able to hand-tune the game for the performance that VR requires. Even when questing in the overworld, you’ll now find buttery-smooth framerates. We’ve also upgraded our engine and fixed numerous bugs to greatly increase overall stability and reduce crashes and disconnects.
Today via Reddit, the OrbusVR development team revealed that the VR-exclusive MMORPG is getting a massive overhaul for the start of 2019. Known simple as OrbusVR: Reborn, the overhaul is part expansion and part relaunch for the indie MMO.
Reportedly, OrbusVR: Reborn will not only include four brand new character classes (Bard, Shaman, and two others that aren’t revealed yet) but will also feature robust new avatar customization options, all-new enemies, new areas, new activities, upgraded PvP systems, a better new player experience, and a much more detailed art style. The new visuals retain the low-poly look of the game’s current style, while adding more detail and nuance to the environments. The team is also aiming for improved stability and performance as well. It looks like a significant upgrade across the board.
Das VR-MMORPG OrbusVR ist dieses Wochenende vom 19. bis 22. Juli kostenlos im Oculus Store mit einer Oculus Rift spielbar. Für den kostenlosen Download wird die Oculus-Desktop-App benötigt.
OrbusVR für Oculus Rift – Kostenloses Probewochenende
Das Open-World-Spiel bringt klassische MMORPG-Elemente in die Virtual Reality und vereint diese in einem Low-Polygon-Stil. So dürft ihr zahlreiche Monster bezwingen, um Erfahrungspunkte und Loot zu erhalten und dadurch kontinuierlich stärker zu werden. Weiter erwarten euch viele Quests mit ganzen Storysträngen und eine eigene Lore rund um die Welt. Auch Berufe stehen zur Option, deren Aufwertung ebenfalls Mühe benötigt. So könnt beispielsweise fischen, oder als Alchemist Tränke brauen.
Gruppenspieler dürfen in Dungeons mit bis zu fünf Spieler/innen gefährlichen Widersachern entgegen treten, deren Bezwingung euch mit mächtigen Gegenständen belohnt. Wer noch härtere Herausforderungen sucht, kann sich mit bis zu zehn Spielern in die Raids wagen und dort auf fiese Endbosse treffen. In Konkurrenz mit anderen Spielern kommt es bei den selten erscheinenden Weltbossen.
Ihr habt die Wahl zwischen vier verschiedenen Klassen, die jeweils unterschiedliche Fähigkeiten besitzen. Als Jäger, Musketier, Krieger oder Runenzauberer könnt ihr eure Feinde je nach Spielstil bekämpfen.
Onward is going to have a little competition with its free weekend kicking off tomorrow.
While Downpour Interactive’s online shooter is free to play on Rift and Vive via Steam for the next few days, it’s Orbus Online’s OrbusVR that’s getting a trial weekend on Oculus Home. The fun starts in just a few hours time at 10am PT and runs through until 12:00 am on Monday night. It’s not the first free weekend the game’s had on the Oculus Store, so it must be proving pretty popular.
It’s little wonder why. We think Orbus is a pretty decent stab at a true massively multiplayer online (MMO) VR game. In it, you can explore a massive world with friends, fulfilling quests by taking out enemies with ranged and melee combat, scouring for items, casting spells, fishing and even raising pets. The game even managed to make it onto Steam’s list of best-selling VR titles so far this year.
If you like what you play, the full app costs $39.99. The game’s in Early Access right now and is seeing regular content updates. No word on when the full version will go live just yet.
OrbusVR, the MMORPG for PC VR headsets, is getting another free access weekend very soon.
OrbusVR’s free weekend starts July 19th at 10AM PT (local time here) and goes through July 22nd at 12AM PT (local time here).
As the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, OrbusVR went into Early Access late last year to an overall positive effect. While the game is decidedly a low-poly experience graphically, the promise of an open world MMO is undeniably attractive to many looking for the classic experience in VR.
Featuring classic MMORPG elements, including multiple quests, world bosses, dungeons, and a story taking place in a large open world, the free access weekend should give you some solid time to check out the game’s multiple player classes, dragon pets, player trading, fishing and crafting.
While OrbusVR supports HTC Vive and Oculus Rift via Steam, the free weekend is being hosted via the Oculus Store, meaning this go around is Rift-only. Owners of Vive and Windows VR headsets itching for a chance to play can should definitely look into Revive, the free utility that opens to door to Oculus platform exclusives.
The big-screen version of Ready Player One might have brought the idea to the forefront of people’s minds, but the concept of a virtual reality (VR) massively multiplayer online videogame has been a dream for some time, from William Gibson’s Neuromancer novel to anime such as the .Hack series or Sword Art Online. While titles such as OrbusVRand VRChat recreate some of what would be needed for a truly connected VR MMO, they are not ideal.
With that in mind, lets take a look at the sorts of things that would be needed to make the perfect VR MMO for the future.
The Server-Side Hardware
We’ve discussed before what technical challenges stand before any serious attempt to create any MMO, not just a VR ones – namely the cost of setting up and maintaning the back-end server infrastructure.
There is a potential solution to that, however. Distributed computing and Blockchain could offer some other options for the VR MMO of the future, letting some of the assets and processing load be handled by something that isn’t a vast server farm paid for by a single company, but is instead distributed across the globe. Decentralandand some other Blockchain-based efforts are testing this out, so those are worth keeping an eye on.
The Client-Side Hardware
There is a question of if current generation VR hardware can even handle a VR MMO. A typical session in an MMO can run to several hours, and for many the idea of having current generation VR hardware next to your eyeballs for that length of time is not especially appealing, particularly when headaches from the screen-door effect and sim sickness are taken into account. Perhaps future headsets, less bulky and with better resolution, will make this idea more practical.
The User Interface
Here is where things get somewhat tricky. Almost every MMO has some sort of on-screen UI which contain the various skills and abilities you need to use in various situations. These tend to be vast and often incomprehensible to non-players. However, VR works best when it is deeply immersive, which means the less on-screen immersion-breaking clutter, the better.
Its difficult to say what the best approach is to resolving these, but context sensitivity might be the key. Perhaps a Dragon Age-style action wheel could pop up in certain contexts, or with the press of the trigger button. Maybe gaze control is the way forward? Alternatively, perhaps gesture control could be explored? There would certainly be some satisfaction derived from moving your hands in magical gestures to cast a fireball at a dragon.
Haptics
Haptic feedback technology has seen a surge in growth recently, with several companies exploring various ways to provide the sensation of touch to VR and AR users. To make the most of a VR MMO, this technology should certainly be integrated.
To Room Scale or Not To Room Scale
Long-time MMO players will tell you that one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing an MMO is a multi-player raid. Ganging up on a boss with a group of other players is exciting, though sometimes frustrating. Watching the boss to see what attacks it is going to throw next and remembering how to counter is and positioning yourself accordingly. This would seem to indicate that room scale would be a natural fit, right? Well, not so much. Remember what I said about long play sessions? Playing a room scale MMO might be great exercise, but it would also include many people, including people suffering from several disabilities and excluding anyone is a bad idea, especially when the VR player base remains somewhat limited.
What do you think is needed for the Perfect VR MMO? Sound off in the comments.
